Pendlebury, John D.: The archaeology of Crete: an introduction (London, 1939)

THE ISLAND

15

(PI. VIII, 2), also accessible in about ii- hours from Elyros.
Eastwards, and again accessible by land only by unencumbered
pedestrians and goats, lies Voukilasi—the ancient Poikilassos.

From Elyros—though I have only been from Souia, skirting
Elyros—a path leads to what seems to be the cemetery of that
city at Kampanos and thence via Agia Eirene, near to which
village Spratt saw traces of an ancient way up to Omalos, to
Khania which is reached in 12 hours or less from Souia.

So much for communications by land, which have changed
little save for the gashing of the countryside by car roads.
The communications by sea, however, must have played an
important part. Locally, as we have seen above, conditions
may have changed since the catastrophe of the sixth century,
but things have probably balanced out. Where one harbour
has been rendered useless, another close by has been made
accessible. We can generally judge from the Admiralty Charts
what the conditions must have been.

We are fortunately in possession of a most important docu-
ment, the Stadiasmus. This is a compilation, parallel to the
Admiralty's Mediterranean Pilot, of probably the sixth century
A.D., but certainly prior to the earthquake. It gives distances
and anchorages as well as the presence of water and facilities
for devotion.1 Unfortunately the distances have been written
in figures, not at full length. Scribes being notoriously liable
to miscopy figures, the document can only be taken to check
the relative position of sites. A further difficulty is created
by the fact that, as has been pointed out above, ships in
ancient times were beached on stretches of sand or shingle.
This means that they would have been able to use certain
ports at present inaccessible. On the other hand, their inability
to tack or indeed sail close to the wind must have, even allowing
for the use of oars, precluded ships from seeking refuge in what
have since become quite safe anchorages.

Another important topographical point is the kind of site
preferred for settlement at each period. So striking are the
changes in taste that it would almost be possible, on seeing a
photograph of a piece of Cretan landscape and being told that

1 See Appendix A, II, 1, at the end of this chapter. It is curious,
that prevailing winds are not mentioned, nor outlying dangers.
Several sites which one would have thought to have been of sufficient
importance to mention are not named, e.g. Itanos and Ampelos on
the East coast, Rhethymnos, Panormos, Amnisos and Miletos on
the North coast, Priansos on the South coast.